Gates Foundation Opens New Phase in African Agriculture Effort

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced it will put an additional $120-million into its African “green revolution” effort, mixing traditional grants for research and materials with money to influence public policy and use technology to educate sub-Saharan farmers, reports the Associated Press.

The nine new grants, announced before Bill Gates gave the keynote speech at the World Food Prize Symposium, in Des Moines, include $15-million to lobby African governments on agricultural policy, $10-million to create educational radio programs for farmers, and $4.7-million to train a corps of local liaisons with cell phones to contact experts when farmers have questions.

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